Watch Why This 17-Year Old Won’t Go to College

You might still believe that college is a great investment for nearly everyone. You might still hold to the view that a great education benefits the student and the whole of society. You might even agree with the politicians who are figuring out how to drive more people into college.

Even if all that is true, you need to know that change is in the air. Some brilliant young people are starting to rethink the whole thing. College takes four years out of your life – four of life’s most critically important years during which time you could actually be developing skills, building a network, and becoming productive. Instead, you are spending $100k plus for what, in the end, is a single result: a piece of paper.

And maybe if that piece of paper could guarantee you success, there would be a point. A strong point. But even that is increasingly questionable. Are employers really looking for people with degrees? Or are they looking for experience, skills, and productivity?

It seems that many people have been deceived. They graduate and announce to the world: I’m finally here with my degree in hand! And then it turns out that not too many employers actually care.

Given this, it is possible that matters are starting to change. College is clearly for some people. But maybe not for everyone. Maybe it is only for those who are going into professions that absolutely require the degree (doctor, lawyer, engineering, accounting, and academia itself).

If you want to gain a sense of the thinking of many smart young people, have a look at Ryan Matlock’s video here. He is taking another path. He is applying to Praxis – a unique work/study program that is training some of the best thinkers and doers out there today. In fact, many Praxis students are writing some of FEE’s best material these days.

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FEE has been a leading non-profit organization in teaching the principles of a free society since its founding in 1946, by Leonard E. Read. Today, Fee focuses on introducing freedom as a life philosophy to newcomers in the youth audience, striving to bring about a world in which the economic, ethical, and legal principles of a free society are familiar and credible to the rising generation.